This invention relates to laying carpet and in particular, to a tool for trimming a carpet to fit into a particular space.
When laying carpet, sometimes it is desirable to remove a strip of uniform width from an edge of the carpet. This is usually accomplished with a tool known as a border cutter or strip cutter. The coventional border cutter includes a carrier for a cutting blade and an arrangement for positioning the blade carrier with respect to the edge of the carpet to be cut or trimmed. Usually, some form of adjustment is provided for determining the width of the strip to be cut. In the prior art devices, the cutter blade carrier is moved relative to a guide edge along a rod or strip and is held in place by thumb screws or the like which clamp the blade carrier to the guide rod or strip. Examples of this construction are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,148,142; 4,646,439; 4,868,9894; and 5,050,306.
One disadvantage of such construction is that the operator must measure the position of the blade carrier relative to the guide edge and then tighten the thumb screws. Another disadvantage is that, unless the screws are continuously tightened, there is the likelihood that they will loosen and the width of the cut will vary during the cutting operation.
Earlier border cutters cut the carpet from the face or top portion of the carpet. One problem with this arrangement is that during the cutting process, the nap or face yarns can be cut, shaved, pulled-out or disfigured, allowing the completed seam to be visible. Some border cutters are inserted below the carpet surface and require the combination of pushing the tool by one installer and pulling by another. This operation requires two people, is difficult and slow, and allows for mistakes such as aforementioned nap loss or disfigurement, and/or edges cut on a bevel.
Many current border cutters use specialty blades that are generally limited in the amount of available cutting surface and are not always available at all distributor locations. Also the cost of such blades is generally higher than the standard blade.